Tetsaveh

In our weekly readings of Torah we have moved into a new dimension.  We left some weeks ago the long narrative of our family history and have observed the beginnings of a structure of social law.  Now we are well into the world of the Priests, of sacrifices and of the building of the Tabernacle – the temporary structure that was the precursor to the Temple. It is a story that will take us with some interruptions through the rest of the book of Exodus, through the whole of the book of Leviticus and into the book of Numbers.

For us today, the detailed descriptions can be something of a turn off. We see little relevance in them. One of the first principles of Reform Judaism when it began two hundred years ago was to reject the notion of Temple and sacrifice, to take out the prayers that asked for the restoration of the Temple and the sacrificial worship that went on there.  That is why Reform synagogues in Germany and the United States are called Temples, - to show that Synagogues now had prime place in religious worship and that were are not looking for a Temple to be built elsewhere.

Reform Judaism rejected the Priesthood too. Its main function was to slaughter the animals, ritually sprinkle their blood, burn the fat and the flesh on the altar along with offerings of grain and incense. Not how we would express ourselves spiritually today. Moreover the priesthood was a hereditary office. In an age that appoints leadership on grounds of merit or popularity, we can see something distasteful in Moses ordaining his brother and his sons in perpetuity to that august office.  The early adherents to the Reform movement were democratic to the core. We are ‘a Kingdom of priests’ they said, quoting Exodus chapter 19 ‘A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’  All are holy and a segregated dynasty cannot not be tolerated. The same principle resulted in the removal of  aliyot and talliyot from the service. Aliyot – the calling up to say the blessing before the Torah because the tradition is to call up a Cohen – a priest first, a Levi second and only after them, the rest of Israel thus perpetuating the distinction of an upper religious class.  Taliyot were jettisoned for a similar reason.  Women did not wear them and in the new democracy of Reform Judaism both men and women, equal before God should worship God in exactly the same way.

But with time, things move back as well as forward.  In England, a late joiner on to the Reform Judaism scene, the term Temple for Synagogue was never adopted. We now reinterpret the prayers calling for sacrifice rather than jettison them. We call up people to Torah but without distinction as to Cohen, Levi or Israel. Women, like men are encouraged to wear a tallit. Rather than look back in embarrassment at the antics of our forefathers we can now look back and appreciate what they did. Not agree with it necessarily, not wish to emulate it, but understand it for what it was, namely this. The use of pagan ritual, trappings and paraphernalia in a manner that everyone at the time would understand, but to use this ritual to glorify and testify to the reality of one God.  The priesthood with its glorious garments, and complicated tasks was witness to the glory of our God and an assurance of God’s presence and protection.

In our parashah this week we read of how the High priest was dressed in the Ephod and the Breastplate. The Ephod, - rather splendid epaulettes contained two stones; one on each shoulder plate. On one were engraved the names of six of the tribes of Israel, and on the other, the remaining six. Twelve in all.  On the breastplate were set twelve different semi-precious stones, each one representing a tribe of Israel.  For the people this was significant. The High Priest, dressed in awesome splendour could be seen as a person not of this world, the Divine representative, a person apart. But the fact that he carried the names of the twelve tribes about his person, their that special stones were the ‘burden’ he bore about his neck was demonstration that he represented them, was responsible to them as well as for them.

Today the symbolism recurs as a historical reminder.  The twelve dots that appear on our Ark, on the reading desks and chairs on the bimah all represent the twelve stones on the breastplate and therefore the twelve tribes of Israel.  The cloth and silver that covers our sifrei Torah are reminders too. The priests were always subject to the law of Torah, now in the absence of priests the Torah takes on their role and their vestments as witness to the reality of the one God who inspired them.